Why Lesbians Hang On to the Hipster

WHY ARE WE still interested in the lesbian hipster? In part it’s because we can’t stop lurking around her pictures on Facebook, which are beyond cute. But it’s mostly because the “lesbian” and “hipster” worlds seem to have converged so naturally that there’s clearly something going on past Generation X/Y’s universal adoption of any eastward-blowing trend-wind.

Remember that time back in the 80’s when power suits were all the rage? Trends may come and go, but once in a star-crossed while, styles work their way permanently into various subcultures. Lesbian hipsters are one of the newer members of the already highly categorized girl-on-girl community, but within the lesbian subculture, does this trend have the power to outlast the shelf life of the mainstream hipster, just as “power lesbians” kept the power suits?

Despite its relative newness, the lesbian hipster style is almost ubiquitous in certain spaces, like Tegan and Sara concerts or The Abbey in West Hollywood on a Friday night. So why does hipster jibe so easily with lesbian? The answer lies in history, or hipstory, if you will. I know, it’s hard to believe that all these thrift-shop-shirt-wearing, gold-lamé-legginged girls carry with them any sort of legacy beyond 80’s dance movies (Jennifer Beals, I’m looking at you).

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The Gay & Lesbian Review / Worldwide (The G&LR) is a bimonthly magazine targeting an educated readership of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) men and women. Under the tagline, “a bimonthly journal of history, culture, and politics,” The G&LR publishes essays in a wide range of disciplines as well as reviews of books, movies, and plays.